Former head of HMRC has retirement party gate-crashed by protesters
Dave Hartnett, the former Permanent Secretary for Tax at HMRC, was lampooned by a group of protesters at his own retirement party.
Whist addressing a gathering of tax lawyers and accountants discussing tax avoidance loopholes at New College, Oxford, Mr Hartnett was confronted by the protesters who smuggled themselves in, disguised in black tie garb, posing as representatives of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, and Vodafone. The protesters, who object to ‘sweetheart’ tax deals between the Revenue and big business, and calling themselves ‘WeAreIntruders’, then attempted to present him with a bogus and ironic ‘lifetime achievement award for services to corporate tax planning’ and a bouquet of flowers.
At first, the gathered group of professional onlookers applauded the presentation thinking it to be authentic before an astute tax barrister clicked and had the group ejected from the premises. As they were being removed from the hall the group started singing ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow…….so say Goldman Sachs’ whilst Mr Hartnett was left bewildered.
The whole episode was filmed and posted on YouTube during which the barrister can be heard rebuking the protesters and referring to them as “trespassing scum” and threatening to “set the dogs” on them.
Black tie activists crash HMRC boss’ retirement do
During his watch, Dave Hartnett, presided over so-called ‘sweetheart’ tax settlements struck between HMRC and five companies that included Goldman Sachs and Vodafone, which were criticised by groups such as UK Uncut, who claimed the public coffers lost millions of pounds because of the deals. The group even challenged the Goldman Sachs settlement in court, claiming that HMRC had forfeited £20 million in interest from the bankers.
Although a report by the National Audit Office criticised the process by which the settlements were reached , citing a lack of clarity, it supported HMRC in obtaining a ‘reasonable’ outcome for the public purse in all five cases.
Accountancy Age recently conducted a poll of its readers regarding the WeAreIntruders incident. The results from 112 responses were as follows:
- 92% believed the protesters action was completely reasonable;
- 1% thought it was fair to some extent;
- 3% said it was unfair; and
- 4% considered it to be entirely unwarranted.
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